Dell laptop burns down family home

Powercord ignites; burns home to the ground

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A man in the US state of Maine had a bit of a shock when he returned home from work on Monday: he learned that while he had been walking to the office that morning, his Dell laptop was burning down his house.

The man told The Consumerist , "When I arrived home the entire street was blocked with fire and rescue crews. My 130-year-old former farm house was engulfed in flames, with thick dark smoke pouring out of the windows and roof. Over 60 firefighters from four departments fought the blaze and battled equipment failures due to the near zero-degree weather.

Laptop explosion

"Hours later, after the investigation, the fire Marshall investigator took me aside and asked me if I had a laptop computer. Yes - - I told him I had a Dell Inspiron 1200..."

Fire crews told the man that either his laptop battery or power cord had burst into flames shortly after he left for work. It would probably be a bit insensitive to say it's his own fault for leaving his laptop on unattended. But let's face it, the global warming-related warnings about leaving computers on all day never mentioned anything about houses burning down.

It has not yet been confirmed or denied whether the man had been listening to Talking Heads' Burning Down The House at the time of the blaze, but it should be noted that the fire had nothing to do with the Sony battery disaster of 2006.